


polarize

by capturearena



Category: Pokemon Ranger
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, spenser and joel are terrible people, this is stupid i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 05:32:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4335764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capturearena/pseuds/capturearena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the first day of school, Joel meets a boy with bright green hair and fire in his eyes, and he hates him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	polarize

**Author's Note:**

> this is stupid

On the first day of school, Joel meets a boy with bright green hair and fire in his eyes, and he hates him.

He hates him, because he never stops talking.

He hates him, because people never stop talking about him.

He hates him, because his entrance exam score is rumored to be the best in the school’s history.

He hates him, because it is the only rumor Joel has ever believed.

He hates him because he’s in love with him.

* * *

 

Despite the fact that the school and everything in it are still relatively new, the mattresses creak at the slightest of movements. It’s already beginning to drive Joel insane, not only because of his own but because of the one in the bunk above him.

“Stop moving around so much,” he finally says to the bottom of the bunk.

The mattress creaks again, and the boy in the top bunk leans over the edge of the bed, hanging upside down to look at Joel. In the darkness, and without his glasses, he can’t read his face very well, but he would recognize the bright green hair anywhere. “Sorry,” the boy says. “Can’t sleep?”

“No,” Joel replies. _Not with you tossing and turning for hours._

“You’re not nervous, are you?” Even without being able to see him, Joel can hear a challenge in his voice.

“What would I be nervous about?”

“I don’t know. We’re in a new school, and no one knows anyone.”

 _Everyone seems to know you just fine_ , Joel thinks bitterly as the boy continues.

“Everything’s unfamiliar. I’m excited, though.”

“Why?” Despite how badly he wants to hate him, he’s insatiably curious about the boy: why he talks so much, why he’s talking to Joel at all, why his hair is green.

He shrugs as well as he can while upside down. “New people, new opportunities. And I’m finally going to be a Ranger.” He pauses, then adds, “If we’re going to talk, can I come down there? This is getting kind of uncomfortable.”

“Please, do.”

The mattress creaks once more as he sits back up, then again as he moves toward the ladder and climbs down. “You know, we’re probably going to wake someone up in here. Let’s go do something.”

“Where? We can’t leave campus, especially not in the middle of the night.”

“Then we won’t leave campus. We’ll just walk around. It’ll be like a tour of the school, except if we get caught we’ll get suspended.”

Joel later decides that some things are worth almost getting suspended for. "Fine,” he replies as he retrieves his glasses from the nightstand nearby.

As they descend the stairs to the first floor, the boy turns to Joel. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Joel.”

“I’m Spenser. With an S. Nice to meet you, Joel.” He smiles and extends a hand, and Joel stares at him for a few seconds before shaking it.

“How else would you spell it?” Joel asks, still holding the other’s hand.

Spenser hesitates. “I mean, with two S’s. Instead of a C.” He pauses, then adds, “My parents are assholes.”

“Understood.”

They stand there in an awkward silence, their hands still clasped together in an indefinite handshake. It takes a while for them to remember how to let go.

“Why do you want to be a Ranger?” Joel eventually asks as they wander the first floor of the school. It’s eerily quiet without the cacophony of the other students around them, and their footsteps echo on the wood floor. The school is pitch-black dark, save for the moonlight streaming in through the windows, tinging everything with silver.

Spenser stops and thinks for a few moments before answering. “Pokemon are really amazing, you know? They seem so simple, but we don’t even understand everything about them. So far, we’ve barely scratched the surface. I want to understand them, and I want them to be able to understand us.” He turns back to Joel with a genuine smile on his face.

“Wow,” is all Joel can think to reply, and he means it in the truest sense of the word.

* * *

 

He hates him, because when Summerland’s Base Leader tells them about the legends behind the Jungle Relic, Spenser turns to Joel and Cameron with wonder in his eyes.

“That sounds really dangerous,” Cameron says.

“That’s what makes it fun,” Spenser replies. “Right, Joel?”

“I think the heat is going to your head,” Joel replies.

“I bet you just don’t want to go because you know I’ll beat you,” Spenser retorts.

_God dammit._

Half an hour later, the two of them are fighting their way through overgrown foliage and Spinarak webs--thankfully vacant of the Spinarak themselves--to get through the Olive Jungle. Overhead, Spenser’s Spearow flies just over the tree canopy with instructions to alert them if it sees 'anything resembling a relic.'

“How do we know there even _is_ a relic?” Joel asks as he waves away another Spinarak web. “It is just a legend.”

As if on cue, the strident cry of a Spearow tears through the air. Spenser shoots him a smug grin before running off in the direction of his partner’s shrieks. They discover the Pokemon circling the top of a towering bluff, the rocky cliffside latticed with vines.

When they ascend the cliff, they are greeted by a massive monolithic structure that dwarfs its surroundings. Strange, intricate patterns are carved into the surface of the ancient gray stone, and a wide staircase leads up to an entrance near the top. Spenser’s Spearow lands and situates itself on his head, and he briefly thanks it for its help before turning to Joel. “Are you scared?”

“Scared of what?” he replies as he pushes past him and starts up the stairs.

The entrance opens up to a small, dank room that looks even more decrepit than its exterior. The room’s focal point is the strangest statue either Ranger has ever seen: a large blue and gray block, with cylindrical protrusions of the same color.

“...Is this it?” Spenser finally asks.

Joel reluctantly approaches the relic and runs a hand over its surface. It’s mostly smooth, save for the places where it’s been cracked and worn away by time. “There’s a switch here,” he notes out loud.

“Press it,” Spenser replies.

He does as instructed, and stumbles back when the statue begins to move and split itself in half, revealing an entrance in the rock.

The second room is darker than the first, and contains only a staircase that winds along the walls. The center of the room is a pit that’s too dark to see the bottom of.

“Are you scared yet?” Spenser asks, and Joel can tell from the sound of his voice that he’s grinning.

“I’m not scared of the dark, you ass,” Joel retorts as he starts down the stairs, running a hand along the wall as he walks. Their words echo in the empty void of the room.

At the bottom of the stairs is another entrance that opens up to a massive underground cavern. The narrow walkway has been eroded away by the surrounding water. Everything is disturbingly quiet, save for the sound of the Rangers’ footsteps and the lake’s waves lapping at the rock.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Joel finally says, and Spenser stops in his tracks and turns to him.

“What? Why?”

“This place... something about this place feels wrong.”

“I knew you were scared. Come on, Joel. Don’t let fear hold you back from everything.” He turns and starts walking again. Joel stays where he is.

“I’m not--Spenser, wait--”

Spenser stops again, but this time stands with his back to Joel. “Why did you even agree to come if all you’re going to do is bitch at me?”

Joel clenches his jaw. “Because I wasn’t about to let you do something stupid,” he replies sharply, his voice echoing loud and clear throughout the cavern. Spenser stiffens, and his hands instinctively ball into fists.

“I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t call you an idiot.”

Spenser turns and marches toward Joel, stopping when they’re only inches apart. “Then what _are_ you calling me?” he asks, raising his voice until he’s yelling.

“I’m not calling you anything,” Joel replies evenly, but his anger is still evident in the way it edges his voice.

“You think you’re hot shit because you’re smarter than everyone else--” He grabs the collar of Joel’s jacket, and before either of them has time for second thoughts, Joel’s fist connects with his jaw.

Spenser stumbles back, nearly doubled over in pain. Joel’s heart sinks at the sight, and he immediately feels terrible. When they both recover from the initial shock, he mutters, “Sorry.”

Spenser stares at him for a moment. “Don’t be,” he says, still rubbing his jaw. “I deserved that. _Christ_ , you punch a lot harder than I thought you would.”

“Do you fantasize about me punching you?” Joel replies. Spenser laughs despite the fresh wave of pain it brings in his face.

They later return to the Ranger Base with a dark bruise already forming on Spenser’s jaw, and Cameron is the most upset anyone’s ever seen him.

* * *

 

Years later, Joel receives a letter from the Union. He reads it several times over, as if he can’t believe what he reads the first time. He rereads it until he could recite it word-for-word if he wanted to.

He rereads it until he knows how to tell Spenser about it.

They’re patrolling the Lyra Forest when he does finally tell him, and his eyes widen and he gives Joel a smile that he can’t tell is real or not. “That’s awesome,” he says, but Joel has known him for too long not to realize he was hiding something.

“Is something wrong?” he presses.

“What? No,” Spenser replies. “I’m happy for you. It’s just going to be kind of lonely without someone to make fun of around here.”

“Make fun of Cameron.”

“I can’t make fun of Cameron. He’s too nice. You’re a dick.”

“Thanks,” Joel replies, rolling his eyes.

“Listen, I really am happy for you. You worked hard to get here. Getting asked to be a Base Leader isn’t easy.”

Joel can’t help but grin. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

Spenser holds up his hands in a mock surrender. “Alright, you got me. I envy the hell out of you. But I’m still happy for you, so don’t worry about it.”

They walk in silence for a while after that. Normally Joel is thankful for the silence, especially coming from Spenser, but he hates this. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he finally asks.

Spenser sighs and neglects to look Joel in the eye when he speaks. “Listen, I might as well tell you this now, since it’ll probably be a while until we get to talk like this again.”

“I’m not leaving the region, you sap.”

“Shut up. You’re ruining the moment.” He cracks his knuckles, a nervous habit that Joel has told him time and time again to break. He’s about to berate him for it again, until he continues, “When we were kids, back in school, I kind of had a crush on you.”

Joel feels like his heart stops beating, even if for a second.

“I didn’t know what to do about it--I mean, we’re both guys, and I doubt you’re--you know--” He waves his hands in an indefinite gesture, motioning at everything and nothing at the same time. “So I didn’t tell you, because I figured once we started working we wouldn’t have time for that kind of stuff anyway. Especially not now, if you really are going to Fall City, so--”

“Wow,” is all Joel can manage to say. Spenser still doesn’t look him in the eye.

“It’s stupid. It was stupid.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “I just figured you had a right to know.”

“Spenser, look at me.”

“What--”

Joel grabs the collar of his jacket to pull him closer, and kisses him hard. He waits for him to recoil and yell at him, punch him, run away, do something, but he doesn’t. Instead, he throws his arms around Joel’s shoulders and kisses him back.

“Sorry,” Joel says when they eventually separate.

“Don’t be.”


End file.
